15-year-old recounts how shots were fired into room of Grand Rapids home while he slept

Heidi Fenton | MLive.comFranklin Gamez, 15, points to a hole left in a front window of his family's home after shots were fired at the house early Sunday. He had been sleeping on a couch directly across from the window.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Fifteen-year-old Franklin Gamez was asleep early Sunday morning on a living room couch inside the Sutton Street home his family rents when he heard gunshots outside.

Groggy, he at first wasn’t sure what had happened. His brother’s friend, who Gamez said had been waiting for a taxi near the porch, burst through the front door and told him there was a man in dark clothing outside with a gun.

“I hit the ground and went into the kitchen,” he said of the 4 a.m. incident Sunday.

The family waited nearly three days before telling a landlord what had happened — unsure what anyone could do with little information on a possible suspect.

The landlord called police Tuesday night and officers responded to investigate. They told dispatchers it appeared the shots may have come from a shotgun.

Two large holes were left in the family’s front windows — one, positioned directly across from the couch where Gamez had been sleeping.

No one was injured, though two brothers, ages 20 and 22, also were inside at the time, along with his mother, Reynalda Gamez.

With her son interpreting from Spanish, Reynalda Gamez said she had taken pain medication the night before and didn’t notice damage to the home until the next morning.

She figured the suspect was long gone and didn’t report the shots to authorities.

Even after her landlord called, the woman wasn’t sure there was much anyone could do.

But still, Gamez said she worried for her son and other children.

“If they catch him now, good, “ Reynalda Gamez, 42, said. “I’m nervous because I don’t know who it was or why they did it.”